as in brutality
the manifestation of the traits or the gratification of the appetites of a lower animal
in his portrayal the actor emphasizes the working-class hunk's fundamental animality
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Recent Examples of animality
In other words, humans can act against the animal component of their nature and manifest their humanity by rejecting their animality.
—
Literary Hub, 11 Nov. 2025
This strangeness causes all sorts of internal agitation, an uneasiness about humanity’s closeness to animality.
—Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 16 Feb. 2025
But also, something more intrinsic — something like her animality.
—Camille Bromley Gabra Zackman Krish Seenivasan David Mason, New York Times, 6 Jan. 2025
The other characters are getting animalities, as well: Peacemaker gets the eagle, Omni-Man the Hail Mary kaiju from Invincible, and Johnny Cage becomes a shark.
—Nick Romano, EW.com, 23 Sep. 2024
Meg combined elements of Christie Monteiro, with Bryans Snakeskin Pants (both from Tekken), while dancing in a DDR setting similarly to Ulala from Space Channel 5, fatalities and animalities from MK, with nods to old school games from the Sega Genesis era.
—Solcyré Burga, TIME, 10 May 2024
Kafka’s fiction is full of animals who resemble people and people who lapse into animality.
—Becca Rothfeld, The New Yorker, 9 Jan. 2023
The study ventures into the intricacies of scientific and quasi-scientific debates in the 19th century, and treats 19th century science as embedded in a myth featuring divinity, humanity and animality as principal characters.
—Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 31 July 2012
Literary Hub, 11 Nov. 2025
This strangeness causes all sorts of internal agitation, an uneasiness about humanity’s closeness to animality.
—Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 16 Feb. 2025
But also, something more intrinsic — something like her animality.
—Camille Bromley Gabra Zackman Krish Seenivasan David Mason, New York Times, 6 Jan. 2025
The other characters are getting animalities, as well: Peacemaker gets the eagle, Omni-Man the Hail Mary kaiju from Invincible, and Johnny Cage becomes a shark.
—Nick Romano, EW.com, 23 Sep. 2024
Meg combined elements of Christie Monteiro, with Bryans Snakeskin Pants (both from Tekken), while dancing in a DDR setting similarly to Ulala from Space Channel 5, fatalities and animalities from MK, with nods to old school games from the Sega Genesis era.
—Solcyré Burga, TIME, 10 May 2024
Kafka’s fiction is full of animals who resemble people and people who lapse into animality.
—Becca Rothfeld, The New Yorker, 9 Jan. 2023
The study ventures into the intricacies of scientific and quasi-scientific debates in the 19th century, and treats 19th century science as embedded in a myth featuring divinity, humanity and animality as principal characters.
—Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 31 July 2012
Recent Examples of Synonyms for animality
Noun
-
The sly blend of beauty and brutality is also apparent in the film’s sound design.—
Patrick Brzeski,
HollywoodReporter,
14 Feb. 2026
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The protagonist, Frannie’s, story begins in a plantation in Jamaica, the brutality of which is chillingly evoked, but by moving much of the novel’s action to London, Sara Collins helps show just how tightly interwoven Black Caribbean history is with the history of the UK.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
11 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Hope is something that Dior’s creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri can related to, having explored the dualities of hope and despair (as well as lightness and darkness, and fluidity and animalism) in her spring 2023 collection.—
Rosemary Feitelberg,
WWD,
22 Jan. 2025
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All of a sudden, that animalism has been incarnated.—
Hunter Ingram,
Variety,
25 Mar. 2024
Noun
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One has simply grown so accustomed to his cruelty that, in an episode with so many other people acting on their worst impulses, Stephen stands out for momentarily acting on a good one.—
Kathleen Walsh,
Vulture,
10 Feb. 2026
-
Gray faces 29 charges, including two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of involuntary manslaughter, and multiple counts of second-degree cruelty to children.—
La'Tasha Givens,
CBS News,
9 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Animality.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/animality. Accessed 16 Feb. 2026.
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